Tag Archives: Glaxo

Wellbutrin – To Promote or Not Promote… That is the Question

Lauren Stevens, the Glaxo associate general counsel, who is charged with one count of obstructing an official proceeding, one count of falsifying documents before a federal agency and four counts of making false statements to the FDA, has heard evidence given to a jury by James Millar, GSK vice president of strategic pricing, contracting and marketing. Millar had originally refused to testify but prosecutors persuaded the US District Judge [Roger W. Titus] to order him to give his testimony.

Feds Want Glaxo Exec To Testify In Stevens Case

The trial of former GlaxoSmithKline lawyer Lauren Stevens gets under way this week and federal prosecutors hope to force a Glaxo exec to testify, according to documents filed in federal court last week. The feds are trying to compel James Millar, a vp of strategic pricing, contracting and marketing to take the stand in their quest to convict Stevens of obstruction of justice.

Stevens, you may recall, was first indicted last November for obstructing an FDA probe into off-label marketing of the Wellbutrin SR antidepressant and making false statements to the agency. More recently, the indictment was tossed, because prosecutors incorrectly portrayed her defense to a grand jury. However, they subsequently issued another indictment earlier this month.

Drug Firms Face Bribery Probe from US Department of Justice

Letters from the government to one of the companies, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, identified four types of possible violations: bribing government-employed doctors to purchase drugs; paying company sales agents commissions that are passed along to government doctors; paying hospital committees to approve drug purchases; and paying regulators to win drug approvals.

Glaxo To Pay $1Billion To Settle Paxil Birth Defect Cases

In an effort to get its arms around massive litigation, GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to settle yet another wad of product-liability lawsuits involving one of its popular meds. The latest deal involves an agreement to pay more than $1 billion to settle some 800 cases alleging its Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects in children borne to women who took the drug, Bloomberg News writes.